


One Fiery Feline

by JuliassicPark



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Catboy Lio Fotia - Freeform, Comedy, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, but this is still sfw, science based on jurassic park, some suggestive dialogue, the promare stay because I say so, tokyo mew mew fan galo thymos, yes you heard that right my username is what it is for a reason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:54:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27984150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliassicPark/pseuds/JuliassicPark
Summary: After one of Lucia's experiments goes unexpectedly awry, Galo must handle the side effects. Namely, his Burnish boyfriend who is now part cat. While he himself is allergic. Yeah, this'll go just fine.AKA Catboy Lio shenanigans
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 10
Kudos: 66





	One Fiery Feline

**Author's Note:**

> Hi friends!! 
> 
> Around two weeks ago, I was feeling really shitty and wanted to write some silly catboy comedy to remedy that. I thought it'd be a quick lil oneshot, but I kept coming up with more and more ideas and somehow this hit 10k?? It's just pure fluff and humor. 
> 
> Big thanks to [ Leo ](https://twitter.com/mirrorkirby) for beta-ing for me and for helping with ideas!!! love ya 💖  
> Also a big thanks to [ Lio ](https://twitter.com/lio_fotia) for this amazing [ mew mew lio art ](https://twitter.com/lio_fotia/status/1329892675902967810?s=20) inspo ✨ and for giving me many other catboy ideas!!! 💖
> 
> I hope this makes you smile and laugh and makes your day just a little bit better! 😁
> 
> -Jabbles💕

It starts with a screech. 

Galo is in the Burning Rescue kitchen grabbing a quick snack. So far, it’s just been a normal Thursday. Well, as normal as things get for hero of the entire world Galo Thymos. A hero who works for Burning Rescue, is the world’s greatest fireman, and is dating a someone who can literally burn anything down. He spent the morning clearing some debris around the Parnassus site, distributed some supplies alongside said boyfriend, and now he’s back at the station “on the clock” for any potential emergencies.

So, okay, not exactly normal for most standards, but it’s a pretty typical day in his book. There’s not a ton to do while waiting for fires to happen, and so Galo decided to sate his appetite. Two pizzas can only hold you over for so long. 

Normally, this downtime is nice, because it means he gets to spend more time with Lio. Not that they don’t already live, work, and sleep together, but at least it provides some company while waiting because honestly, patience isn’t his strong suit. But right now, he’s Lio-less.

As soon as they reached the station after lunch, Lio got pulled away today by Lucia and her gremlin scientist hands. She claimed she needed to test him for something for the Burnish and that it was of the utmost importance. Lio was naturally heavily reluctant at first, not one to trust experimentation easily (he’s had a rough past in that particular area) but he eventually agreed.

So now Galo is alone in the breakroom holding half of a sliced bagel in one hand and a knife covered in a glob of peanut butter in the other. He’s just about to make contact between the two when-

**_“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”_ **

A screech so powerful Galo wouldn’t be surprised if half of Promepolis heard it rips through the silence. In his surprise, both the bagel and peanut butter bobble out of his hands. Galo goes to reach for them, as if in slow motion, but it’s too late. The peanut butter smears the tiled floor, the knife clatters loudly, and the bagel lands peanut butter side down. Completely unsalvageable. 

Okay, he should like, clean that up (and maybe lament the loss of his snack), but he’s 99% sure that his boyfriend just screamed bloody murder. That definitely takes priority.

Galo dashes out of the breakroom and hurriedly makes his way to Lucia’s lab, descending the staircase to the basement facility so fast he nearly trips and eats shit halfway down. With a deft last-second reach for the handrail, he manages to catch himself. When he finally reaches the bottom, he throws his entire weight against the door, bursting it open and spilling into the lab.

 ** _“WHAT’S WRONG, LIO?”_** he shouts as he crashes into the room. 

He’s met with silence and a lot of questions. 

Lucia Fex stands before Lio, holding a tablet and glaring at it as if it has personally wronged her. She’s scrolling and tapping and scribbling notes in the margins of whatever she’s reading. Heris Ardebit stands wide-eyed at a computer that shows a sequence of letters scrolling across the screen. It seems to be the same four letters in different combinations, and they are zooming across the terminal too fast for Galo to keep up or understand. Heris isn’t looking at the screen, though. She’s staring at a syringe in her hand in such awe that it could be the cure to the common fucking cold if not for her frightened appearance. 

And lastly, there’s Lio.

Galo sees Lio a lot. Like, a lot. They’re pretty damn hard to separate once they’re together. Been like that since they set the whole world on fire pretty much. Call them clingy, mushy, honeymoon phase, whatever you like, Galo loves his boyfriend and loves spending time with him, and he’s not ashamed of that.

And because of that, he’s seen Lio in a variety of predicaments and outfits. He’s seen Lio try on his first firefighting uniform (that was quickly altered because apparently “orange isn’t his color”. Galo thought he looked great, but it’s a bad idea to fight Lio on fashion sense). He’s seen Lio encased in shiny, obsidian armor, aflame and taunting him to fight back. He’s seen Lio at his highest: soaring across the solar system in a euphoric, synchronous high as they lit the largest inferno this world has ever seen. He’s seen Lio at his lowest: sobbing behind the eyes of a dragon as he grieved over the loss of his people, threatening to burn it all down as a result. He’s seen Lio dress up for important Burnish charity events, polished and refined and sharp in a suit. He’s seen Lio dress down when they’re alone, a sight for him and only him. 

But he’s never, ever, _EVER_ seen Lio like this. 

Lio is sitting on some sort of examination table and holding a handheld mirror. He’s got on a tight black shirt and his signature leather pants with a zillion belts on - that’s all normal, standard protocol. His expression, however, is downright seething, an inferno raging in his magenta eyes. He’s glaring at the object in his hand in shock, disgust, complete and utter ire. Lio growls once, deeper than Galo’s expecting, before flames engulf the mirror and incinerate it into ashes. Judging by the spontaneous combustion, Lio’s clearly upset by what the reflection revealed. And to be fair, Galo can understand why.

His signature green bob hairstyle remains untouched, but on top of his head, as if by magic, sit a pair of matching cat ears. It could be a costume, but that wouldn’t make Lio shriek the way he did. Especially because Galo can see them _moving._

Galo can’t even begin to comprehend what he is seeing, and so, he does what he does best: blurts out the first thing that comes to his mind. 

“DID YOU TOKYO MEW MEW MY BOYFRIEND????” 

“Galo!” Heris yelps, startled by his outburst. “It’s- It’s not exactly like that!” 

The accursed mirror disintegrated, Lio flicks his fiery gaze over to the scientist, immolation imminent.

“Then what is it?” he demands sharply. Galo watches in awe as the ears sitting upon his head twitch, as if in irritability. 

“It’s unforeseen side effects, that’s all,” Lucia answers simply, still scrolling through her tablet. “I’m sure that if given the time, we can easily reverse this and-”

“SIDE EFFECTS? GIVEN THE TIME????” Lio shrieks, lifting a hand that immediately is shrouded in flame in her direction. “You have ten minutes to fix this or _I burn this lab to the ground.”_

“First of all, this lab is underground,” Lucia says matter-of-factly.

Lio does not take the joke well, flames of ire stoking.

“Second of all, whaddaya think I’m tryna do here?” Lucia waves the tablet in her hand. “Play scrabble? I’m trying to fix you!” 

“Well do it faster! I can’t be caught like this when I’m-” Lio’s eyes widen as he seems to remember Galo’s presence. He was so preoccupied with the situation that he must’ve forgotten his boyfriend running to his rescue. Lio’s glaring eyes, full of fire, slowly slide up until they land on Galo’s form in the entryway. They soften at the sight. 

“Lio?” Galo speaks for the first time since his outburst. “Are you okay?” 

Lio’s eyes widen so much Galo swears he sees his pupils dilate. “Does it look like it?” He points to the ears adorning his head. “This isn’t fucking normal!” 

“No, I didn’t think so…” Galo frowns. “How did this happen?” 

“Ugh!” Lio groans. “This is why I never agree to experiments in the first place!” 

“We wanted to see if we could sequence Burnish DNA,” Heris explains, gesturing to the monitor still displaying odd codewords of ACGT. “As Lio is the strongest Burnish that we know of, we wanted to see if it was something in his genetic code that allowed for him to have this incredible bond with the Promare. A _‘Burnish gene’_ , if you will.” 

“Okay,” Galo nods, understanding so far. “But then how did he get… y’know…” Afraid that if he says the words aloud, Lio might set off again, Galo points to the top of his own head.

Heris seems to get the message. “Well, the problem is even if we extract his blood and sequence that DNA, it’s full of gaps. There’s no way to keep the strands intact. We need to fill the holes to complete the code in order to get the full sequence. Initially, we thought we could just fill these in with whatever common letter pairings we saw fit, but that didn’t seem to work. The results became too skewed based on our choices and essentially biased the results. Instead, we thought we’d use the DNA of an animal that has already been fully sequenced. The easiest to attain was that of a domestic cat, and, well.” She looks at Lio’s situation. 

“It seems that mixing the two together has caused…” Heris adjusts her glasses. “Unforeseen consequences.” 

Galo shakes his head, thoroughly tuned out from that entire scientific infodump. “Uhhh, what?” he gapes dumbly.

“We injected your boyfriend with cat DNA and now he’s part cat,” Lucia explains succinctly. “Sorry,” she tacks onto the end of her statement. 

“You turned Lio into a cat by giving him cat DNA?” Galo asks. Shit, they _really did_ Mew Mew him. 

Lio still sits, sulking on the table and clearly wishing for this entire ordeal to be over. He huffs loudly. 

“Isn’t that what I just said?” Lucia says over her shoulder before resuming typing. “It should be fixable. We just need to figure out where the DNA got spliced and revert that part.”

Lio still glares at the scientist, internally debating the pros and cons of incinerating everything in sight.

“But in order to do that, we need to view the entire sequence,” Heris explains. She tilts her head towards the ground, lowering in volume. “Which is about 75 million lines long.”

 ** _“75 MILLION?!”_** Galo and Lio squawk in unison. 

“Relax!” Lucia reassures them. “I’ve got the computing power to sort through it. But that sorting, even most efficiently, will take…” she thinks to herself for a minute, doing some internal calculations. “A day or two.” 

**_“A DAY OR TWO?!”_** Lio rockets up from the seat, landing gracefully in front of Lucia and grabbing the goggles around her neck to yank her in close. “I swear, if you’re fucking with me, I’ll make you _wish_ you never heard the name Lio Fotia.” 

“I’m telling the truth!” Lucia lifts her hands up in surrender. “Really! I’m sorry!” Lio narrows his eyes, his ears twitching as well. God, that’s gonna take some getting used to. 

“Lio!” Galo butts in before things can escalate further. “You know Lucia wouldn’t lie about this! C’mon!” 

Lio considers for a moment, then lets her go. “Fine. But what am I supposed to do for two days looking like some kinda fucked up science experiment?”

“I still think you look great, babe!” Galo feels the need to add because, really, he does, it’s just some extra ears and- 

Lio turns around to talk to Heris and yep. Okay. 

Beneath his shirt, coming up from the waistband of Lio’s pants, is a slim but fluffy mint green cat tail. 

That’s new. 

“Hey, Lio?” Galo says, pointing at his backside. “Did you know that-?”

Lio slowly turns his head to look over his shoulder. The entire room braces for impact. Ears are one thing, but- 

****

**_“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!”_ **

“Lio! Lio! Calm down! I promise to fix it, okay?” 

“But what do I do? I can’t be seen like this! Imagine if the leader of the Burnish was seen as a cat! The opposition would have a field day! I cannot allow that to happen.” He pauses briefly as he realizes something. “Take a picture, and I melt your phone. I’ll confiscate every camera on the premises if I have to,” he threatens. “This. Does. Not. Get. Out.” 

Lio’s always been someone who cares about his image; that’s no secret. Not just physically - though he does have one helluva fashion sense - it goes beyond that, extending to encompass his entire persona. Lio views himself as the ambassador, the symbol of all the Burnish. When he does something, it’s reflected across the entire Burnish population.

Because of this, Lio’s always careful, precise in his motions and actions, always cognizant of how they could possibly be misconstrued by those who wish to tarnish the Burnish name. Lio’s honed his skills over years of leading the Burnish plight, and even now, as things have settled down and he’s no longer in a fight for his life, he’s still aware of what he represents. Galo understands this too; he got the spiel in detail when they decided to start dating. 

And considering the ears and tail situation, yeah, this concern is warranted. 

“Noted,” Lucia says, not commenting on it further. “In the meantime, I guess just take the weekend off?” She shrugs, going back to her tablet. 

“You want me to go _home?”_ Lio shrieks. “Like _this?”_

“Would you rather stay here?” Lucia gives him a funny look, swirling her lollipop in her mouth. 

“I would rather be a part of the process to reverse these effects,” he answers. “To make sure that it is as smooth and expeditious as possible. As I said, any possible leak of my current state could have massive repercussions for the Burnish, especially when we have so much at stake with the upcoming election.” 

“I’m not sure that…” Heris starts, unsure of how to handle a flaming feline Lio Fotia. 

“Listen,” Lucia cuts her partner off with a hand flick. “If you wanna spend two days locked in the lab here where anyone at the station could walk in, be my guest. Otherwise, I suggest you and your boyfriend hightail it outta here.” 

Lio’s ears flatten against his head in an adorable pout. He knows she’s right, but getting him to admit that would be like pulling teeth. 

Lucia looks to Galo. “You’ll take care of him, right?” 

“I mean, I’ve never had a cat, and I’m technically allergic, but...”

“I am _not_ a cat,” Lio hisses, tail flicking, proving his statement moot. 

“Right! Of course!” Galo nods vigorously to placate his boyfriend. “But I think we can take the weekend off, right Lio?” 

“I suppose,” he allows. “Thankfully, I did not have too many plans already in place to cancel.” 

“Galo,” Heris says. “Check in if anything changes. This is unprecedented territory, so there may be side effects we are not aware of at this time.”

“What else could there be?” Lio laments up at the ceiling.

“Litterboxes,” Lucia snickers. 

Lio abruptly glares at her, fire flexing in his hands. 

“Easy, babe,” Galo tries to deescalate. “Burnish don’t kill.” 

“I know,” he mutters, still glaring at the scientist.

“Sure you can handle him?” Lucia asks, pointing her lollipop in the direction of one bristling, fiery Lio Fotia. 

“I’ll take the best care of him!” Galo proudly decrees, placing a hand over his heart. “Firefighter’s honor!” 

For the first time since the ordeal started, Lio’s lips twitch up in the barest hint of a smile at his boyfriend’s earnestness. 

It’s short-lived, however, by another voice interrupting. 

“Boss?” Gueira’s voice echoes down the stairwell. Lio jumps about three feet in the air, landing on a table. His new tail ramrod stands straight and briefly flaming. 

“They cannot see me,” he hisses. “I would never live it down! Please!”

Lucia sighs and begins pushing Lio towards a storage locker. Galo takes that as his cue to stall. 

Gueira and Meis reach the bottom of the stairs, giving Galo a confused look as he casually leans on the doorframe, blocking the entrance. 

“Thymos,” Meis says like a warning. “What’s going on here?”

“Yeah!” Gueira loudly agrees, crossing his arms. “We heard the Boss yell. What’s up?”

“He just got startled by something!” Galo lies. 

“By what?”

 _Becoming part cat._ Quick, Galo! Think!

“A spider! Haha!” 

Both pairs of eyes visibly narrow. Shit, was a spider a bad reason? Oh, why did he try to do this? He sucks at lying! 

“Boss doesn’t mind bugs,” Gueira notes. “Burns ‘em up easily.”

“We’d eat them sometimes, when we had to,” Meis adds. 

“Oh wow! Okay! He never mentioned that!” Galo says, fumbling to recover from his blunder. 

“Well,” Meis continues. “It’s not exactly something to be proud of, to be so hungry you eat bugs.”

“I bet!” Galo yells more than replies. He’s trying to play this all cool and tragically, tragically failing. 

“So what is it?” Gueira pries. “Whatcha hidin’?” 

“Because if you hurt him a single bit-” 

“Guys!” Galo interjects. “We’ve been over this! You know I’d never hurt Lio! I love him!”

“Then tell the truth: Why did he scream?” 

Galo closes his eyes and counts to three before deciding on a response. “I can’t say. Lio’s word.” 

“You can’t tell us?”

“Excuse me?!” Gueira balks. 

“Do you want me to go against Lio’s wishes?” he asks and **Bam!** He’s got them. 

“Well, no, we gotta respect that…”

“Dammit,” Gueira curses.

“Just, promise us, is he okay?” Meis asks.

“He’s fine,” Galo swears, palm over his heart. “We’re gonna go home and take it easy this weekend. Lio’s been through a lot today. That’s all.”

“Fine.” Meis seems to understand, but Gueira is very huffy about it. At the very least, it seems that he’s satisfied their curiosities enough for now.

“Okay, take care of him.”

“Will do.” 

They walk back up the stairs just as Galo lets out a huge sigh. Lio barges out of the locker sputtering and still glaring at the tail at his side. 

“Spiders? Really?” 

“You ate **_BUGS?”_**

“When I had to! We had to do what we needed to survive!” he answers with a pout. “Now let’s go home, please, before any others come to investigate.”

Galo slips his hand in Lio’s. “Sure thing, fire _bug.”_ He flashes a big smile, laughing at his horrible pun.

* * *

By the time they reach their apartment, Lio himself breathes a huge sigh of relief and spills onto the couch. He practically nuzzles the pillow. 

“I’m so glad that’s over,” he says. “I would’ve died of embarrassment if Gueira or Meis saw me.” 

“Well, luckily, you’ve got the great Galo Thymos to hide ya!” Galo declares with a wink and thumbs up. Lio opens one eye from his faceful of pillow and smiles. 

“Thanks, luv,” he says. “Knew I could count on you.” Galo practically beams with pride. 

Neither one is entirely sure how to approach the situation, because well, neither of them really knows how to embrace the concept of “time off.” Ever since they set the whole world on fire, there’s been a lot of shit to do. Time spent at home is mostly spent eating or sleeping. Even then, Lio will spend hours on his laptop or phone, working off-hours even at home. Sometimes, they’ll go out on dates, go for hikes, but those are rare.

Even more rare are the times they are both off-shift and free. And now they’ve got a whole weekend of it. Totally unplanned. With an added cat aspect.

Galo’s got no clue where to start. Making Lio relaxed and comfortable is probably Step 1, since he’s clearly going through a lot right now. 

“Wanna watch a movie?” Galo offers. Lio seems to consider for a moment before shrugging. 

“What else am I gonna do? Play with yarn?” he jokes lightly. That’s a good sign; he’s in a better mood. 

Galo pulls up one of his favorites and they start watching, Lio tucked comfortably at his side. It’s… relaxing. Peaceful. Normal. 

Except for the ears and tail.

Oh shit, _tail._

Is it comfy for Lio to sit like this? Last he saw, Lio had hastily shoved it into his already tight pants. Surely that’s not comfortable? That’s when Galo realizes Lio’s been fidgeting since the film started, occasionally jostling his arm. Glancing over, Lio’s sporting a near pout. Okay, yeah, this needs to be addressed. 

“Hey Lio?” he starts, trying to ease into the subject. Lio tilts his head up curiously, one ear turned in his direction. He’s still not used to that. Not sure he ever will.

“Yes?” He regards Galo with caution, as if he senses the questions coming his way. 

“Are you like, comfy?” he asks. “Because uh, you know, you have a…” He points down.

“You can say tail. No one else is here. You don’t have to beat around the bush,” Lio responds. “Best to be forthright, yes?” 

“Okay, yeah,” Galo nods slowly. “Since you have a tail-” he still winces as he says it “-are you sure you don’t wanna change? I mean, you can like, feel it, right? Shoving it in your pants can’t be very comfy.”

“I’m fine,” Lio asserts harshly.

“See, but you’re not,” Galo frowns. “You’ve been fidgety since the movie started! Either change or we’ve gotta cut a hole.” 

“Don’t you _dare_ touch my pants,” Lio hisses, a thinly-veiled venomous threat. 

Galo lifts his hands up in quick surrender. “I’m not suggesting to! I’m just saying we need a solution so you don’t have to sit looking like you’re constipated!”

Lio takes a deep breath. There’s a brief moment where Galo’s worried that something in their apartment may spontaneously combust; he’s just praying it’s not irreplaceable. But as Lio carefully exhales, the tension slowly leaves his form. 

“You’re right,” Lio says, irritable about having to admit it. “If I’m to deal with this for the next few days, we should figure this out.”

“I’ve got some old gym shorts we could cut?” Galo offers. “They’re probably big, but might still work?” 

“I’ll take it,” Lio decides easily enough. “Not like I have many options.” He huffs heavily through his nose, still emanating an aura of Very Pissed Off. Galo can’t blame him; having your DNA spliced with a cat can’t exactly be a walk in the fuckin’ park. 

“You wanna take a bath now?” Galo asks his boyfriend, rubbing his arm comfortingly. 

Lio doesn’t relax easily, but one of the few indulgences he’ll allow himself is a hot bath soak, usually surrounded by candles he lights himself and nearly drowning in eucalyptus-scented bubbles. You’d think someone who is literally on fire at all times would shirk away from being submerged in water, but Lio actually enjoys hot baths quite a lot, seeking them out on days the news tries to sully his name or when tough memories make themselves known once more, sending shivers rippling across his skin. 

Galo can tell he needs a distraction, a way to curb his nervous energy about this unique situation. A hot bath seems like a good option. 

“No,” Lio immediately replies with a shudder, lip nearly curling in disgust. 

Galo blinks once, then furrows his brows at Lio’s curt response. 

Lio himself pauses for a moment, startled by his own answer. He shakes his head as if to clear his mind. 

“I’ll just shower. It’s fine,” he blurts out. Lio practically rockets up from the couch and sprints into the bathroom. 

“Huh?” Galo squawks.

Lio’s long gone. 

Galo’s puzzled by the strange behavior, but he shrugs it off to go digging through his closet for those old running shorts. He does manage to find them tucked away next to a dusty box of old books he’s totally forgotten about. The shorts seem like they might fit Lio when tied tightly, but Galo quickly realizes he’s left an important detail unaccounted for: he doesn’t know where to cut them. He kinda needs Lio to do that. Well, he shouldn’t be long in the meantime.

Instead, while he waits for Lio to finish up in the shower, he Googles for some help. He’s totally out of his element here.

_“how to care for a cat”_

Because, listen, he’s never done this before. And he doesn’t wanna screw it up! Most of the links he finds talk about vaccinations (probably unneeded), litterboxes _(definitely_ unneeded), diet (hopefully unchanged), and general health. He does find out some behavioral aspects. Some cats like being around people, others don’t. Some cats go outside, others don’t. Apparently, most cats do like attention, which Galo can definitely provide.

Despite his research, none of the links explain how to care for a catboy. Great. Not that he was expecting much, but _still._ He does find one useful tidbit of information, though: cats like being scratched behind their ears and at the base of their tail. That seems like information he can apply to this situation. 

Lio finally emerges from the shower, nearly scowling, wearing only a towel around his waist. 

“Everything alright?” Galo inquires. 

“Fine,” Lio huffs. He tries to shake the water out of his hair, and as it does, it fluffs up considerably with the help of some Promare. 

Galo points at the shorts lying on from the kitchen counter. “I found these, but I need to know where the base of the tail starts to cut the hole.”

“Right.” Lio abruptly shucks off the towel with no preamble. It leaves Galo sputtering and blushing and covering his face. 

“What? It’s not like you haven’t seen me naked before,” Lio states, which like, _okay,_ that’s true, but these are different circumstances. 

“Yeah, but now you’re a _cat,”_ Galo whines, still pinching his eyes shut. 

“And that makes you not want to look at me without any clothes on?” Lio inquires. 

“Well, no, that’s-!” He blushes deeper. 

“Wow, Galo,” Lio sighs, feigning hurt. “What happened to _‘through smoke and flame, I’ll have your back_ ’? Didn’t think that back included a cat tail?”

“Wait!” Galo quickly defends. “That hasn’t changed! Definitely not! I still love you, Lio! And for what it’s worth, you’re still very attractive and-!” 

He’s cut off by Lio giggling. “You’re too sweet, luv. I’m kidding. You know I love you.” 

“Right!” 

“And open your eyes for god’s sake!” Lio laughs more, chiming like a bell in the breeze. “I put them on, you big dummy.” He pecks Galo on the cheek.

Sure enough, when Galo finally un-scrunches his eyes, Lio has donned the shorts and is sticking his tongue out in an adorable tease. And yeah, despite the new feline additions, Lio still looks pretty cute.

(But who’s he kidding? Lio’s always cute. How the hell did he get so lucky?)

Galo’s happy that Lio’s no longer moping about his situation. The fact that he can joke and tease about it is a good sign, at least. However, he’s unsure how long that will last, because he’s just now realizing that he’s gotta literally feel up Lio’s ass to find the tail base, which is like, definitely some sort of invasion of privacy, but at this point, they’re well past boundaries. 

“So?” he starts. “Am I good to go then?”

“Go for it, hotshot,” Lio winks, encouraging Galo. 

He nods, ready to handle the task at hand. The light green tail curls out of the top of the black running shorts. It’s still a strange thing to behold. Tentatively, Galo reaches towards the waistband, and Lio seems to instinctually tense up. Moments ago, he was jovially teasing; what happened? Why is he suddenly cautionary now? 

Galo frowns. “Something wrong?” he pursues. “We don’t have to, you know. I just wanna make it as comfy as possible for you.” There’s no point in this if Lio is apprehensive. 

Lio shakes his head. “I just… It’s fine. Measure away.” 

“Okay…” Galo answers, still unsure of Lio’s trepidation, but respectful regardless. As he pulls the waistband back, he sees the spot where the newly added tail connects to the base of Lio’s spine. It’s certainly an odd sight, but at this point, nothing can really surprise him anymore. Lio could cough up a furball for all they know. This is wholly uncharted territory. 

Thinking back to the articles he read, Galo gets an idea. If he’s already gotta do this, he might as well make Lio comfortable, right? That’s just the kind thing to do. Gotta treat his boyfriend right! He’s not entirely sure that pets will work in this state, but if Lio asks, he can easily write it off as just measurements. At least, he thinks he can. 

“Hold still,” Galo instructs. He finds the spot in the shorts to cut easily enough, but that’s not his real goal here. He drags his fingers down Lio’s back, and as he does, Lio shivers. His fingertips skim lower and lower, until they reach the connection. And then, gently, in an effort to get Lio to relax (he’s been tense since this whole ordeal began, which Galo can’t exactly blame him for, but _still),_ he rubs the junction lightly. 

Lio ** _howls._**

Galo jumps away like he’s been burned (and maybe he has, because Lio is very clearly smoldering. When did that happen? Shit!)

“Lio?” Galo asks, voice filled with concern. Lio is bent over the kitchen counter, breath heaving and face scarlet. Maybe he shouldn’t’ve done that? Or asked? Or-?

Lio attempts to speak, but instead lets out a noise that Galo swears he’s never heard him make before. It’s practically a _mewl._ As Lio hears himself make it, his face grows redder and literally starts steaming. He slaps a hand over his mouth in pure embarrassment.

The firefighter in Galo wants to extinguish him right here right now, but the boyfriend in him knows better than to do something like that right now. Instead, Galo lifts his hands in surrender as Lio’s blown-pupil eyes glare at him before slumping into the counter.

Part of Galo wants to approach and comfort him, but thankfully, his rational side wins out and he gives Lio his space. Clearly, the tail-rubbing caused some sort of reaction, and Galo’s not about to potentially worsen whatever situation they’ve been thrust into. 

Rather than try to understand what just occurred, Galo just makes the cut and returns to the couch without saying another word. He doesn't need to bruise Lio’s pride any more than it’s already been bruised today. 

But seriously? Why did he react like that? Didn’t Google say that cats like being petted there? So where’d he go wrong? Galo opens his phone again. 

_"Cats are often highly sensitive to being scratched near the base of the tail, probably because of the concentration of nerves there. The base of the tail is considered an erogenous zone.”_

Galo frowns, puzzled at the article. 

_“What’s an erogenous zone?_ ” he types into the search bar.

Oh.

_Oh._

Shit.

“Sorry!” Galo calls out, wincing. That was absolutely not what he meant to do. Like, at all. 

“Just,” Lio breathes out, clearly doing his best to keep his voice steady. “Don’t do it again.”

“Yeah for sure!” Galo shouts back, his own face growing redder. “I just thought it would be, like good. Google said that it’s-” he cuts himself off. Galo hangs his head towards his lap. “Sorry,” he mumbles through a wobbling lip. The last thing he wanted to do was make Lio uncomfortable! And after everything they’ve deal with today? God, he fucked up so bad and- 

A hand lands on his shoulder, causing Galo turn his head to look at it. 

“Galo, you’re fine,” Lio reassures him, rubbing at his shoulder. 

“But I-!” he counters. 

“Please don’t beat yourself up over this, sweetheart. I know you meant well. You’re literally too nice to even consider hurting me.”

Hurt? Sure, go with that, Galo. Don’t think anything more of it. “Yeah,” he agrees. 

Lio flashes him a half-smile, giving further reassurance. “Can we keep watching the movie?” he asks. 

“You betcha!” 

Lio plops down on the couch next to him, leaning into his side, tail curling affectionately around his form. 

* * *

“Erogenous Zone?” Lio squawks later that evening as they’re eating dinner.

“I didn’t knoooow!” Galo whines. 

* * *

Wrapping up for the night is an interesting predicament. They’re in the bedroom getting ready, but there’s still the whole feline problem. Galo’s not entirely sure how to handle this. For one, cats are nocturnal, right? So will Lio even sleep? To be fair, Lio’s pretty nocturnal himself even without the cat-splicing, so maybe he doesn’t want to go to bed yet? And should they sleep in the same bed still? Or would Lio feel weird about that? Or will that make his allergies act up? So far, it seems that cat-Lio isn’t aggravating them, but spending an entire night wrapped up with one another may make cause them to appear. And if he wakes up feeling sick, then who will take care of Lio? 

Oh, he’s overthinking this far too much! Might as well just start talking and hope for the best. Listen to your burning soul, Galo! You got this! 

“D’you still wanna sleep here or-?” he asks, eyes darting between the unmade bed and Lio’s form.

“Ugh, you are not relegating me to the floor like some sort of animal.” Lio’s nose crinkles in disgust. “At least let me sleep comfortably.”

“I was wondering if you were even tired! Because like, I dunno. Cats like night?” Galo feebly attempts to explain his reasoning. 

“ _‘Cats like night’?”_ Lio repeats, shaking his head good-naturedly. “You’re something else. But it’s fine.” Lio loudly yawns, displaying teeth that Galo swears appear sharper than before. He stretches long and catlike. “I’m sleepy.” 

“I just wanted to ask,” Galo tries to defend. “I mean, I know things are hard for you right now and I’m just trying to help. I wasn’t insinuating anything, I swear!”

“I know,” Lio sighs. “Forgive me if my pride is still bruised.” His ears flatten in embarrassment.

“None taken.” Galo rubs the back of his head. “I can’t really uh, imagine what it’s like to be you right now.”

“Everything smells so much,” Lio mutters, nose twitching. “I want to burn down the pet shop across the street.”

“Please don’t?” 

Lio flashes a cocky smirk just as a flame alights from the tip of his finger. “I won’t. I only said want. Not like I’m going to.” 

“Good.” Galo nods, matching the smirk with one of his own. “I wouldn’t wanna have to put you out.” 

“Please, as if you could," Lio scoffs. 

"Oh yeah?" Galo closes the distance between them by a few steps until they're glaring at each other in challenge. 

"Yeah," Lio says. "Plus," he adds. "You put out enough as is." He barely gets the words out before doubling over in laughter. 

“I said I was sorry about that!” he groans, still embarrassed. “Oh my god! Not my fault they used a word I’d never heard of!” Galo huffs and crosses his arms.

“Sweetheart, Galo, I know. Believe me, I would not want to in this state. Can you imagine?” 

Galo gulps, trying to make his brain not think about that at a time like this. “Nope! Not at all!” 

Lio’s magenta eyes narrow into razor-thin slits; in his catlike state, they reflect the streetlights from outside their window. Lio’s eyes have always been fire, flaming like his soul, but right now, they glow, shining as if they’re illuminating themselves. 

“Right.” The word rolls off his tongue as sharp as a knife. 

Galo needs to end this conversation right now before it escalates because he knows that’s not good for either of them. Or at least, he’s _pretty_ sure. 

Shit, Galo! Focus!

Rather than allowing anything more to transpire in that direction, Galo abruptly ends the conversation by slamming face-first into his pillow. 

“Let’s sleep,” he mumbles into it. Whether Lio hears it or not, he joins him regardless, snuggling down into the mattress. Quickly, they doze off for the night. 

* * *

Galo’s awoken when he feels Lio rustle next to him. The blankets around them twist and jostle him enough that Galo’s stirred awake. He blinks open his bleary eyes, disoriented in the darkness. 

“Babe?” he sleepily mumbles. Once Galo’s eyes adjust to the dim light, he sees Lio frowning and fluffing his pillow. He’s pushing with his hands on the object in a rhythmic, almost kneading motion. Back and forth, back and forth. 

“Lio?” 

“Damn thing won’t fluff right,” he mutters, glowing eyes glaring at the offending object. 

“You want me to try?” Galo offers, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He’s not sure if this is a cat thing, a Lio thing, or a cat-Lio thing, but Galo’s a damn good pillow fluffer. Those muscles aren’t just for firefighting, you know. 

“It’s fine,” Lio quickly replies, brushing him off. “I just need to readjust. I’ll simply- AH!” 

Galo cuts him off by yanking Lio’s form over his own, wrapping his arms around Lio’s waist. 

“Comfy now?” he grins. Lio is momentarily annoyed before he smiles back and leans his head onto Galo’s chest. 

“Yes, I am,” he murmurs, snuggling in closer. 

“Good.”

Satisfied, Galo starts drifting off again. And if he feels a small kneading motion on his chest, he doesn’t mention it. 

* * *

**_“NO PROGRESS?!”_** Lio shrieks. Galo’s abruptly startled awake by his boyfriend yelling at his cell phone. “What have you been doing the whole goddamn time?” 

Galo slowly gathers his consciousness and opens his eyes to see Lio (still catlike) looking mighty upset. He rubs at his eyes once, twice. They’re feeling quite dry and itchy.

“Who’s that?” he asks, groggily getting up from bed. 

_“Lucia,”_ Lio mouths. Galo can hear someone else on the phone blaring through the speaker. It does kinda sound like Lucia’s voice. 

“I know,” Lio groans into the phone. “But can’t you do something?”

A pause as Lio’s frown deepens, his ears flattening in annoyance. 

“Fine,” he huffs with an exaggerated eye roll. _“Please_ go faster.”

“Put it on speaker!” Galo says. He does want to know if any progress has been made regarding Lio’s condition. 

“I could burn down everything you love,” Lio threatens under his breath. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Lucia’s voice comes through as the speaker’s turned on. 

“Lucia!” Galo shout-greets. “How’s it going?”

“We’re workin’ hard,” she answers. “Need a bit longer though.” 

“I’ve got things under control here. Don’t worry!” 

“Catboy Fotia hasn’t burned down your place yet?” she asks. 

“Nope! And even if he did try to burn something down, I’d extinguish him! That’s the Galo Thymos Guarantee!” 

Lio hisses. “You aren’t even on my side, Galo?” He bristles, tail fluffing out in anger. 

“Hang on a sec, Lio! That’s not what I said!” 

“You’d extinguish me?” 

“Don’t make me answer that!” 

“Boys?” Lucia’s voice calls to them again. “Please don’t kill each other.”

“There’s no killing here! Right Lio?” 

Lio heaves a deep sigh. “Sorry. This whole situation has made me… irritable.”

Galo nods understandingly. 

“I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

“It’s fine, babe.”

“When I should be taking it out on **her!”** Lio finishes his declaration, fire in his gaze directed at the phone sitting on the dresser.

“Oi!” Lucia shouts back. “I’m doin’ all I can! Give us like one more day? You can’t rush science.” 

Galo can practically see the vein pulse in Lio’s forehead. “One more day?!” His tail begins swishing back and forth. “That’s one more day of me unable to tend to the Burnish! Of possibly being caught in this compromising position! The past day has been fucking unbelievable! Do you know what it’s like to have two sets of ears? NO! I can smell EVERYTHING! AND I-!”

With Lio in the midst of his tirade, Galo realizes he has to do something. In a split-second impulse, lifts a hand to Lio’s head right behind his fuzzy new ears, and _pets_. 

Lio immediately stops complaining. His mouth abruptly clamps shut. Lio’s eyes flutter closed, and he leans into the touch.

Well, at least Google was right about the “scratch behind the ear” thing. Lio’s frantically swishing tail relaxes, curling affectionately around Galo’s leg. Which is downright adorable because according to Google, that’s the cat equivalent of a hug. The conversation on the phone thoroughly forgotten, Lio peacefully smiles as Galo continues giving him head scritches. 

Then he hears something. 

Or more so feels it. Deep in Lio’s throat, a vibration echoes out, almost like a rumbling. 

Holy shit.

Lio is _purring._

Lio’s eyes fly open as his whole face turns a bright shade of crimson. His ears and tail stand straight up at attention.

“Uh, guys?” Lucia’s voice comes out of the phone speaker. “You okay?”

“We’re fine,” Lio chokes out, voice cracking on the _fine._ “Talk to you later.” 

The call is ended as Lio stares at the phone, shame exuding from his entire form. 

“Do you think she heard that?” 

Galo shrugs. “Dunno.”

“Did _you_ hear that?” Lio carefully asks, eyeing him up. 

“Well!” Galo nearly yelps. 

It’s all the reaction he needs. Lio buries his face into his hands. “I’m so pathetic!” he wails. 

Galo quickly tries to comfort his boyfriend. “You’re not pathetic!” He rubs at Lio’s arm.

(He doesn’t think mentioning and/or touching the Cat Aspects would be a very good idea right now)

“I thought it was really cute,” he admits.

Lio glances up from his hands with a questioning gaze. “Really?”

“Well, for one thing, you’re always cute.” Galo pokes him in the soft cheek. “And you still are.” 

He closes the gap and quickly kisses Lio, breaking away with a loud smack. Lio smiles at the gesture, leaning into Galo’s form. Galo wraps him up in his arms, tucking him in close. 

“Even if I purr?” Lio murmurs into his chest.

“Even if you purr,” he confirms.

Galo sneezes loudly.

* * *

Okay, so Galo might be a little bit allergic to his boyfriend. 

Just a bit. 

Maybe.

A little bit.

But he can’t tell Lio. 

Or at least he shouldn’t tell Lio.

Lio’s got enough going on right now. Admitting that his new feline form is aggravating Galo’s allergies would just further dishearten him. It would bring more attention to the Cat Aspects, a fact that Galo knows Lio is trying to ignore.

But even beyond that, if he tells Lio he’s literally allergic to him, Lio’d probably blame himself. He’d get all guilty and try to leave ad stay away from Galo while in this vulnerable state. Even if he needs Galo’s support right now, Lio’d push away for his own safety; he’s just like that. Lio’s self-sacrificing by nature - to be fair, they both are - and not one to ask for help lightly. And Galo would never abandon his side, ever. Even if doing so makes his eyes itch like crazy. Lio needs him right now more than his allergies are bothering him!

After a shower and some meds, Galo’s hoping that he can downplay his symptoms enough that Lio may not ever need to know. He’s Galo Freaking Thymos! He can definitely tough this out! He’s fought a thousand blazes and won! Some measly allergies aren’t shit.

Then he gets an idea.

Maybe, if he comes up with another excuse for the sneezing and runny nose, then Lio won’t question it.

Galo makes an impulsive decision to start digging through the back of his closet to find that old box he saw yesterday. From what he remembers, it’s full of old school notebooks and t shirts and just general things that he felt he couldn’t part with at the time. Just an eclectic group of mementos gathered together and chucked in the back of the closet, never to be bothered with again. To be fair, when he moved into this apartment, he didn’t have many belongings, so the things he did have held significance, even if they weren't exactly useful. 

As he goes digging through, he finds the box. It clearly hasn’t been touched in years. An ashy film of dust lay over top of it. Jackpot.

Flexing his substantial muscles, Galo heaves the box out of its hiding spot and deposits it on the bedroom floor. The cardboard is faded and nearly fuzzy with dust bunnies; it’ll be the perfect excuse. 

Galo opens it up and begins wordlessly removing its contents. It’s a simple motion; he’s taking the old books out and stacking them neatly on the floor. What the next step is after that, fuck if he knows. Galo doesn't exactly often make plans with multiple steps. Or at all. Usually, his plans are just “Step 1: Listen to Burning Soul” and that’s about it. Sometimes there’s a step involving Lio, but those are more of a recent addition. 

But this plan? If it can even be called as such? Does not have any further steps. The only thought process was “dust = sneezing”. Then Galo just took that idea and ran. And at this point, he might as well just commit to it. 

While Lio’s in the shower, Galo manages to empty the cardboard box completely; his stack of old notebooks towers on the carpet, almost mocking him. He still doesn’t know what to do next. With the lack of forethought and sheer abundance of idiocy that resides in Galo Thymos, it’s not exactly surprising.

Unsure where to go from here, Galo plops down and starts nonchalantly flipping through a sketchbook from his high school days. He doesn’t often draw now, but then it was a nice way to calm down his racing mind. He finds some doodles of anime characters, of cute animals, and many, many firetrucks. It’s actually quite endearing, and Galo quickly gets absorbed. So much so that he doesn’t register Lio entering the room until he loudly coughs. Galo looks up to see his cat-ified boyfriend blinking and very confused. 

“Galo?” he says, lifting an eyebrow. 

“I thought I’d use the free time to clean up!” he blurts out before thinking twice. “I’ve had this stuff stored away for a while and thought _‘Yeah! Time to clean!’_ ” He cheeses brightly in an attempt to somehow give his words fidelity. However, Lio’s masterful at reading people - his fucking life depended on it for years - so Galo doubts that it’ll work. 

He sneezes again. 

Lio frowns. “You’ve been sneezing all morning. What happened?” 

“Well you see!” Galo declares. “It’s all the dust in here! That’s why I’m cleaning!” 

Lio’s tail twitches in curiosity. “O-kay?”

“Yeah!” he says with emphasis. “I’m going to move all these to another location!” What that location is, Galo hasn’t a clue. “And I- **ACHOO!”** he’s cut off by another sneezing fit. 

“Geez,” Lio tsks. “There’s too much dust in here. I can smell all of it. C’mon Galo, let’s get this cleaned up.” 

With two pairs of hands, moving the notebooks and such into a garbage bag (Galo says he’ll donate them later) is an easy enough task. With the team of Galo de Lion, they are unstoppable!

As the Benadryl starts kicking in, his sneezes do begin to subside. However, Lio must still think that it’s the dust, because at one point, Galo started going _"ha, ha, haaaa”_ as if about to sneeze, and in a kind but misguided gesture, Lio moved his cattail to rest just under Galo’s nose to stop the sneeze.

Galo sneezed even louder all over the tail. He apologized. 

The task wrapped up, Galo heads into the kitchen to make some snacks for the two of them after their hard work. When he returns with some pretzels and apple slices, he’s greeted with an unexpected sight.

Lio is sitting in the cardboard box. Just sitting in it. Not playing on his phone, not cleaning it out.

Just _sitting._

“Uh, Lio?” Galo inquires, taking in the unexpected scene. 

“What?” he answers a little haughtily, ears flattened to his head. As if it’s completely normal to sit in a cardboard box and shame on him for even questioning such a decision. 

“Why are you in a box?” Galo points at the situation. 

Lio furrows his brows, tail flicking behind him as if he’s deep in thought. He glances down at the box, doing a double-take at the cardboard container he’s sitting in. 

“I… don’t know?” he answers honestly. “I didn’t even realize I was in it?” He pushes at the side with the back of a hand. “I guess I wanted to? And stayed because I like it?” His tail thumps once, twice against it. “I really don’t know. I’ll just uh-” He starts to rise.

“You can stay if you want!” Galo blurts out and oh, was that the wrong thing to say. 

“Why would I want to?” Lio’s eyes narrow.

“I don’t know!” He’s gotta be careful about this. “You seemed happy before I came in? Cats like boxes, I guess.” He laughs, playing it off as a joke. Lio doesn’t seem to take it that way.

“Ugh,” he groans. “Let’s just go to the living room. I’ve had it with this.” 

Lio’s mood changes on an immediate dime sometimes, and it seems cat DNA has not altered that aspect of his personality. If anything, it’s _enhanced_ it. 

Lio quickly alights a flame in his palm, bringing it close to the cardboard. He actually hisses at it. 

“Lio!” Galo admonishes. “No burning in the apartment! We’ve been over this!” 

“Fine.” 

They leave and sit down at the kitchen table for a mid-morning snack. All Galo can think is:

What the hell was that? 

* * *

“Oh I forgot drinks! What would you like?” Galo asks as he makes his way to the fridge. They’ve managed to survive the morning without any further issues. Now, they’re sitting down for a late afternoon lunch. “You want some milk?” he teases with a laugh. “Don’t cats like milk?” 

_“Galo.”_ It’s said like a warning. A chill makes its way down his spine. 

“Hey!” Galo holds his hands up in surrender. “I could warm it up too if you’d like!” 

“I can warm things up myself, thank you very much,” Lio says.

“Yeah, I know.”

“And don’t treat me like some sort of cat,” Lio bristles. “My tastes are still my tastes. That hasn’t changed. And because of that I-” Lio stops mid-sentence, clicking his tongue once. “You know what? Milk sounds lovely, thanks.”

Galo’s nearly whiplashed by the sudden flip. “O-kay?”

“What?” Lio tilts his head defiantly. “I’ve always liked milk. This isn’t new.”

“Right? That’s why I offered?” 

Lio nods slowly. “Right.”

Galo jabs a thumb in the direction of the fridge. “So I’ll just…?” 

“Yes,” Lio confirms. 

Galo pours him a mug and slides it across the table in practiced fashion. Lio alights a small flame in his palm, holding it underneath and warming the milk in his favorite way. He has masterful control over his flames, so Galo doesn’t bat an eye at the motion. What he does bat an eye at is Lio placing the mug on the table, leaning over it, and sticking his tongue directly into the milk to lap it up. 

Galo almost can’t believe his eyes. He rubs them once, twice, to make sure what he’s seeing isn’t fake. But no, it’s _real._ Cat Lio is lapping up milk.

On one hand, it’s absolutely fucking adorable to see his boyfriend doing this, but on the other hand, he’s pretty sure Lio doesn’t even realize he’s doing it and bringing attention to it would embarrass him to no end. In the end, Galo says nothing. But he does slyly bring his phone up from the table to film the scene for posterity. 

Lio laps up the warm milk happily, blissfully unaware of how catlike and cute he’s being right now. That is, until both his eyes shoot open in shock. 

“What am I doing?” he mutters to himself in realization, practically growling in irritation. As his feline irises of flame flit up, Galo frantically tries to hide the phone, to play it off as playing around on it and not blatantly filming his boyfriend, but his reflexes aren’t fast enough. 

“You’re **_FILMING IT?”_** Lio shrieks, burning so hot that the rest of his milk evaporates into steam. 

“You were really cute!” Galo tries to futilely defend. “I just wanted to-!” he loses his train of thought. His tongue feels too big for his mouth as he sees a flaming feline Fotia with his sights set on him.

Galo gulps. 

In a flash, Lio hops up on the table, landing gracefully, like, well, a _cat._ He leans down on his haunches, fully ready to pounce devour his prey. His eyes glint with the prospect of the hunt as he glares at Galo and the phone in Galo’s hand. Galo’s momentarily stunned by the action, pretty impressed, a little turned on, and a lot intimidated. Before he can be caught, Galo leaps out of his chair as his adrenaline spikes, getting him in fight or flight mode.

But when it comes to Galo Thymos, that usually means fight mode. Usually. But with the way Lio looks right now…

Lio stands atop the table, half-lidded eyes looking downright predatory. The kitchen is not the best place for this, so Galo tries to escape to make a beeline for the living room. He’s not sure what the course of action will be after that; he’s not exactly thinking right now, more in self-preservation mode from a very pissed off catboy boyfriend. 

While making a bid for his escape, Galo thinks he’s almost made it away from Lio’s wrath. The couch is just within his reach. If he can make it there then-

All of a sudden, a flash of green in his periphery appears just before something swipes at his shins. It happens so quickly that Galo loses his footing and goes tumbling ass-over-teakettle over the back of the sofa. He faceplants into the cushion, legs flailing in the air. Before he can be stuck there too long, a hand shoves his legs and causes him to do a full somersault, landing sprawled out the living room floor disoriented and winded.

When Galo finally regains some sense of equilibrium, he blinks up at a smirking Lio Fotia. He realizes that Lio purposefully tripped him with his tail. That _asshole._

But he hasn’t won yet! Despite that very ungraceful spill, Galo’s grip is tight and the phone remains in his hand. Lio eyes it and squats down, ready to pounce once again. 

If it’s a fight Lio wants, it’s a fight he’ll get. 

Galo gets on a cocky grin himself, looking up at Lio with a glint in his eyes.

“That all you got, Fotia?” he challenges.

That’s all it takes for Lio to lunge at him. Galo deftly rolls away from the attack, barely dodging Lio’s grappling hands. It’s not the first time they’ve turned the living room into a fighting ring (hell, their whole romance is love at first fight), but this feels different. Mainly due to the cat DNA added to the equation. 

His attack off the mark, Lio hisses and quickly rights himself with seriously catlike reflexes. Lio’s always been agile, but this is new. He flashes his sharp teeth as Galo also manages to get to his feet. They stare each other down from opposite ends of the living room, neither giving an inch. 

“You want this?” Galo baits, waving the phone in front of him. 

“Give it,” Lio growls, the barest hints of magenta and teal flames flickering on his skin. 

“Gonna have to take it from me, babe.” 

_“Gladly.”_ Lio uses the nearby coffee table as leverage and leaps towards Galo.

Galo thinks he can dodge it, but he gets clipped in the arm by Lio’s tail sending a hard smack his way. He didn’t account for the extra appendage. The phone goes spinning out of his hand, thankfully landing on the sofa. Immediately, they both stare at each other, then the phone, and then gun for it. Lio gives Galo a good side check trying to knock him off balance, but Galo’s too strong to let a little shove send him off kilter, and he continues unhindered. They both jump and reach for the phone only to collide and knock into each other, neither managing to grab it.

Lio jumps to his feet in an impressively agile way, but Galo notices that the phone has been knocked off the couch and back onto the floor. By sheer luck, it’s landed near him. Galo quickly rises to a sit and snags it just in time to get bowled over by one Kitty Cat Lio Fotia. The phone once again goes skittering away, but Lio’s catlike reflexes allow him to snatch it up before it goes too far. 

Lio sits on Galo's stomach, pinning him to the floor. He’s holding the phone up in victory, smirking like the literal cat that got the cream. He grins down at Galo with sharp teeth and an even sharper gaze. His ears twitch once; his tail swishes in victory. 

“Gotcha,” he declares proudly. 

“Oh yeah?” Galo never gives up. Never. 

Galo lefts his free hand not currently pinned by Lio and scratches him just behind the ears. Immediately, Lio freezes and leans into the touch, giving a positive _mrap mrap_ noise. It’s fucking adorable. He slumps forward, collapsing into Galo’s arms like a puddle.

More pets and the phone is long forgotten. Instead, there’s a purring Lio Fotia on his chest, their entire fight completely discarded. Lio’s tail wraps around his leg affectionately.

It’s a sharp contrast to the previous altercation from mere seconds before. It’s quite nice, actually. They could stay like this for a while.

Lio’s pressed to him so tightly that Galo feels the purr vibrating up and down his own chest. Lio’s head is tucked up under his chin, and Galo plants a kiss between Lio’s soft ears, causing him to snuggle in further. 

“Nice one, Thymos,” Lio says breathlessly. “Got anything else to show me?” Galo knows that tone of voice. He grins. 

“Maybe. Do you, Mr. Pussycat?” The choice of words is purposeful. 

Lio laces their fingers together. “Perhaps.” He tilts his head up, stealing a kiss.

“I-”

Suddenly Galo’s phone is blaring its ringtone of fire engine sirens (what else?).

Lio loudly groans, then begrudgingly gets up. 

“Yes?” he answers with all the manners of a toddler woken from a nap. His irritated face changes to surprise. “Oh? Now?” A pause. “Yes, we’re coming.” 

He looks over at Galo still laying on the living room floor.

“Galo, Lucia’s solved it. Let’s go!” 

“But...” he trails off. Lio understands. 

“Later.” He presses a finger to Galo’s lips. “I promise. I just want to be normal again. Please.”

“Of course.” It’s a fair request.

“And thanks,” Lio admits honestly, a little sheepishly. “For taking care of me. I love you.”

“Love you too,” Galo grins. “Even if you’re a catboy.”

“Not for much longer!” He grabs his jacket by the door. “I’m driving.” 

Galo knows better to argue with that. 

* * *

Later that evening, when an un-catted Lio is curled up with Galo in bed, he freezes. 

“The video!” he gasps. “I never-!” He playfully hits Galo on the cheek. “What did you do with it?” he demands. 

“I didn’t send it to anyone!” Galo answers sincerely. “I don’t think anyone has seen it and-“

Galo suddenly remembers something.

“Oh no.” His eyes grow wide. 

“What?”

“I let Gueira borrow my phone earlier while Lucia was fixing you.”

“You ** _WHAT?”_**

“He forgot his again!”

“Again?” Lio groans.

“I know! I wanted to help out! I doubt he even looked in my gallery. He said needed to text someone.”

“Still,” Lio warns dangerously.

“I’m sorry, babe!” Galo apologizes profusely. “Really!”

Lio sighs. “I know. I know you just wanted to help, sweetheart.”

“So you’re not mad?”

“Galo, luv, you know I never could be.” Lio smiles. “Plus, if we’re lucky, he never even saw.”

* * *

When they get to the station the next day, a harsh silence falls over Burning Rescue Station 3 as Lio steps into the room. All eyes drift to him, eyeing him up and down. Silence falls. Galo freezes as Lio understands immediately what has transpired.

“Who shared it?” Lio demands, fiery glaze flitting between individuals.

“It was Gueira,” Remi snitches behind his coffee.

“Five.” Lio says like a threat.

“What?” Gueira tries to defend. “I-“

“Four.”

“C’mon Boss!”

“Three.”

“Boss it was just a joke!”

“Two.”

“I only shared it to the people here!”

“One.”

Needless to say, all copies of the video are destroyed. As is Gueira’s phone.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!! 💖
> 
> I am also like Galo and deathly allergic to cats, so I've never had one as a pet either 😔. I googled a lot about them and thought it'd be funny for Galo to also do that!!! That's how the "erogenous zone" scene happened because I didn't know what that meant either lol
> 
> [ My Twitter! ](https://twitter.com/ashesfadein2gay)   
>  [ My curiouscat! ](https://curiouscat.me/jabbles)


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